


Atop an Abandoned Warehouse

by teaandcharcoal



Series: johndave week 2017 [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Elemental Magic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2017-07-05
Packaged: 2018-11-28 07:31:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11413167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teaandcharcoal/pseuds/teaandcharcoal
Summary: As far as he knows, John is the last elemental alive. He fled the Hunt and has been floating across the land ever since. Then, one day, he comes across a very bizarre bird. For Johndaveweek 2017 day three: AU





	Atop an Abandoned Warehouse

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn't planning to do this day, but I was bored at work and then this idea came to me. So here you go!
> 
> Also, this story isn't actually romantic, but since it's johndave week I tagged it as such anyway. You can think of it as pre-johndave if you want, since they'll totally end up together later. (Knowing me, probably with Karkat and/or terezi)

This breeze hadn’t held a physical form in decades. It was safer that way. No hunters could find him, drain his blood for potions or carve his bones into wands. Before the Hunting started he’d been content to live in his little valley with the dire wolves and nymphs, but now he travelled. The world was bigger and wider than he’d ever expected. And much of it was flatter.

He slowly rolled southeast over the planes, pushing rocs along their migrations, sometimes even catching the wings of a dragon. Every now and then he’d come across cities. With the sheer number of humans he’d expected it to be devoid of magical creatures. But he was wrong. Pixies flittered around bars, small gryphons nested on skyscrapers. And then, of course, there were the humanoids: the vampires, the werewolves, the banshees. He felt each and every one of them as he rolled through, but he kept moving. The humanoids were dangerous, and the others weren’t much for conversation.

Then, one day in the midst of a sweltering city he came across a crow. Normal crows are, of course, ridiculously common, but there was something about this one that caught the breeze’s attention. It was alive, radiating life energy, but it didn’t breathe.

He wrapped around the bizarre creature. It cocked its head to the side, turned around a bit. Then, finally, it inhaled once.

“Hey,” it said in the old tongue.

For a moment, the breeze wasn’t sure he’d actually felt that properly. It had been so long, maybe he was too hopeful. But then it spoke again.

“I know you’re there. You can come out. I know I’m kind of a dick but not, like, a massive one.”

It could be some sort of trick. Humans had been developing things that moved and were warm made from metal and trapped lightning, But none were quite as smooth and realistic as this bird. And, well, the breeze was curious.

He solidified for the first time in over a century and landed on the roof as a young man with dark skin and hair. The crow was even stranger than he’d realized, its beak and feathers a pure white and eyes a piercing red. He had never seen anything quite like it, but whatever it was he knew it was sapient and friendly.

He knelt beside the bird. “Hi,” he said. “Breath elemental of Green Valley. You?”

“Time.”

“Where from?”

The crow shakes his head. “We all move so much these days place doesn’t matter. The humans call me Dave.”

“Oh.”

“They name you?”

“Oh yeah! What was it... uh, John, I think?”

“Alright, John-I-think”

John was about to correct him, but he recognized the mischievous gleam in the bird’s eyes. Instead he asked. “Don’t you have trouble like that? I mean, the humans have to be able to see you.”

Dave shrugs. “They do, but they actually seem to like me. They give me offerings and shit.”

“Really?”

“Well, they think I’m just a weird albino crow, but...” He ruffles his feathers. “Even if they did know it wouldn’t be a problem. Not like they can do anything to me.”

John looked down. “I wouldn’t be so sure. I know Time elementals are hard to kill, and it took them decades, but eventually they got my Time. They could get you too.”

A soft pale hand reached out to grab his. When he looked back up Dave had changed. He was a pale man, dressed in the same soft cloth that humans preferred these days. If it weren’t for his glowing red eyes and old aura he’d be absolutely unremarkable. “I’m sorry,” he said. “But, wait, are you talking about the Hunt?”

“Of course! What else would I be talking about?”

 “How long were you the breeze?” Dave asked slowly.

“I- I don’t know.” John admitted. “A long time. Since before there were lines of electricity going all over the place.”

“Shit, dude, so you don’t know! Oh man, I have news that’s gonna blow your damn mind: The hunt is gone.”

“What?”

“It’s gone,” he repeated.

“What do you mean it’s gone? There are humans all over the place!”

“Yeah, but,” Dave sat down next to him. “About sixty years ago they made it illegal. Decided there were so few elementals left we were worth protecting. No one’s coming for us.”

If he wasn’t already sitting John would have fallen over. “Really?”

He nodded.

“How- how many of us are left, do you think?”

“Including you? Twenty-one that I know of. In this country, anyway. More in other places.”

John took a deep breath. Part of him still couldn’t quite believe it. It wasn’t just him, wasn’t even just him and Dave, there were _others._

“Can- can I meet them? Do you know where they are?”

“Yeah, dude, they’re downstairs.”

This was a trap. It had to be a trap. This was too easy, too convenient.

But what if it wasn’t?

If he could see other elementals again, even if just for a few moments, it would be worth it.

“Okay,” he said. “Take me there.”

And Dave did. He led John down the stairs and into a massive room. Nearly a dozen elementals walked or floated around, the glow of their eyes unmistakable. And just like that, John was no longer alone.


End file.
